On the Oregon Trail
by joeyrambles
Summary: Before there was Dipper and Mabel, there was Wendy Corduroy. And before there were aliens and ghosts, there were teenagers, summer, and friendship.
1. Chapter 1

_And at that moment, I could see the future. I see me, staring out the window frame, looking at the same sky as the four of them are. I see a girl, messy hair and lit-up eyes, sitting by a tree, sketchbook in hand, drawing the world on paper the way she sees it. I see five friends, coming together once again, laughing like they just heard the world's funniest joke. I see a boy, my friend, looking through the lenses._

 _"Don't worry," I tell her. "It's going to be amazing."_

 **Now**

The Fassi's have a knack for interior design.

I think of this as I make my way up to Robbie's house. I haven't been to this house in a while – two years, I think, since we all went our separate ways. Of course, the inside of their house is nothing compared to the outside – garden gnomes, lamp posts, and a glossy crimson door at the centre.

 _Ding-dong._

Of course, I haven't seen Robbie in a long time either. I wonder if he still looks the same. Or maybe his eyes are all droopy and his face filled with pimples from taking up business management. That's a funny thought.

I wonder if he is still the same.

The door opens, and I see Robbie, looking the same way as he did when I last saw him – except now he has dark circles over his eyes and he looks even more tired than before.

"I, um -" I stutter.

"I saw you through the peephole," Robbie says, interrupting me.

Oh, did I mention the Fassi's have a peephole?

"How, um -" I say, trying to get the words out of me. _How do you make conversation to a friend you haven't talked to in ages?_ "How's it been? How's college and everything?"

Oh, it's not like Robbie and I immediately stopped talking. We tried. Postcards, e-mails, skywriting – but with all that's happened and the distance, things just changed.

"It's good," Robbie says. "The professor likes me, he says I have a bright future and what not." So much banter, so little time.

"Well, that's awesome. Good for you."

"I know why you're here, you know," Robbie says, changing the tone of his voice. It was amazing how he could go from awkward small talk to serious conversation in a snap. "And I just want to know that you're going to have to do a lot of convincing before I'm in on it."

"Robbie, today is -"

"I know what today is!" Robbie says. "How could I not know what today is? The summer of 17, that's what we called it, right? It was supposed to be the best summer ever, seeing as how it would be the last summer we'd spend together." Robbie shook his head, chuckling. "Didn't realize how true that would become."

"Robbie," I say slowly, "Everybody's back here."

Robbie let out a gasp. "All of us are back here?"

"Robbie, yes," I say. "I checked. I wouldn't be doing this if we weren't all here together."

Robbie laughs. "Thompson, you better not be shitting me right now, I know how much you love a good prank." He leans against the door frame. "Let me see if I got this right. You're saying that all of us are in on it?"

"All five of us," I say firmly. "We can't do this without all five of us."

"All five of us," Robbie says in disbelief. He smiles. "Fine. You've convinced me. Or maybe not. Maybe I just wanna see if you can convince the others as well."

Robbie walks out of his gates and goes, "So, what is this, then? The summer of 19?"

I give him a smile. "Maybe."


	2. Chapter 2

**THEN**

"Our best friend, all the way to Pennsylvania!" I say, hand motion for emphasis. "The betrayal! Oh, it hurts! It stings the very soul of my breathing!"

"Thompson!" Wendy says, throwing popcorn at me. "Stop guilt tripping me!"

The music blares from the speakers, playing _Sipping on Sunshine_ by Avril Lavigne. Wendy was always an Avril Lavigne fan, and Robbie, being of honorary boyfriend position, listened to Avril as well. "Don't listen to him, Wendy," Robbie says. "But, really though...you're betraying us."

Wendy just sticks out her tongue and throws popcorn at Robbie too, which in return, gets Robbie throwing popcorn as well. The four of us all plunge at the popcorn, but Tambry grabs the popcorn before any of us do and goes, "NO! NOOO! I SPENT FIFTEEN BUCKS ON THIS POPCORN AND IT IS NOT GOING TO WASTE!"

All of us just fall to the ground and laugh 'til our stomachs hurt. Wendy is the first to break the laughter, saying, "Okay, okay, that's enough, guys. No more talks about college. Let's switch topics to -"

"Oh, but Wendy, we're just gonna miss you so much," Leena says. "Can't you study art somewhere else?"

"Well, Drake is a wonderful art school," Wendy says, brushing her hair. "Plus, I didn't exactly apply for any other colleges."

"Well, Johnson did have an art department, you know," Robbie says, nudging Wendy. "And it's in Connecticut. Not that far from Gravity Falls."

"What about you, Thompson?" Wendy says, looking at me. "What college have you decided to go to?"

"Oh, I'm just stuck here, like a bird in a cage," I say, sighing. "Except I'm the bird. And the cage is Gravity Falls."

Everyone laughs. I always liked it when I made people laugh. We all needed a little laugh every now and then, and I was lucky to be a person of humor. "Well, you're gonna do great in your course, I know it," Wendy says. "Photography, right? You're really talented at it!"

"Hey, and you're not alone," Leena says. "I'm going to Kirs as well!"

Leena and I share a high five. Hey, you know, I've always found her attractive. Maybe somewhere along our college years together...

"Oh gosh, I love this song!" Wendy says, turning up the stereo's volume. _Walking on Sunshine_ had come to an end and now, _Here's to Never Growing Up_ was playing.

Our friendship's unofficial theme song.

" _Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs, with the boom box playing as we're falling in love, gotta follow whatever but it's getting us drunk, saying here's to never growing up!_ " We all sing our lungs out.

"Singing this while talking about college," Leena says. "The irony."

"Hey, hey, hey, enough about college," Tambry says. College was always a sensitive topic to her. See, Tambry didn't have a college to go to. She didn't get accepted to either Kirs or Johnson. And yeah, she still had time to apply for other colleges. But I have no idea what her plan is. "This is supposed to be the summer of 17, right? So why talk about what ends it? Instead, let's talk about...Tuesday!"

And so we did. But the thing is, Tuesday wasn't just a great day during summer (we went to the arcade, fyi.) We had tons of adventures. Sight-seeing, movie watching, dinners and dates – we made the most out of the summer.

Tambry revealed to us later that her plan was to take a gap year, and travel to Paris along with her dad, maybe even find a bit of romance like they did in the movies and novels. Wendy was set in going to Drake, Robbie was going to Johnson, and Leena and I were stuck in Gravity Falls going to Kirs.

The summer of 17 was coming to an end, and we had one week left to make the most of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Now**

"Leena Estel?" Robbie says, getting out of the car. "This is our first stop?"

"Actually, Robbie, you were the first stop," I say, getting out of the car as well. There, in front of us, is Leena's small but pretty house. I haven't been here in quite a while as well.

"You and Leena, you talk to each other a lot?" Robbie asks. I shake my head as a reply. "Why not? Don't you guys go to the same school? You know, two birds stuck in a cage, like you always said?"

"Big cage. Different courses," I reply. "Recent events."

"Recent events, right," Robbie says. "Well, it's too bad. You had sort of a crush on her, didn't you?"

I give Robbie a look, which makes his raise his arms and give me an "I'm-innocent" look. Not the conversation I wanted after two years of not seeing each other, but hey, at least we were talking.

 _Knock knock._

"Who is it?" Leena says, opening the door. "I -"

She stops. I don't know what stops her, seeing the sight of me at her door or seeing the sight of Robbie. Or the fact that both of us are together.

I hate the fact that it's such an unorthodox thing now that even any of us are talking to each other. I hate how people drift away. I hate how people can just get out of your life, and all you have left are your memories. Memories can be such a lonely thing.

"Thompson," she says, finally speaking. "Robbie. What are you two doing here?"

"Ask him," Robbie says, pointing at me.

"Leena," I say, giving Robbie a short angry glare, "do you know what today is?"

"Of course I know what today is," Leena says. "Do you think I've forgotten or moved on? Isn't today the reason why the five of us aren't -"

"The five of us are all here, Leena," I say, interrupting her. "All here on Gravity Falls."

"All of us are here?" she says, stunned. "Even Tambry?"

I nod. None of us have been in contact with Tambry ever since the summer of 17. It was like she just disappeared into thin air. "I saw her the other day, grabbing boxes from her car's trunk," I say. "Her gap year must be over."

"Gap year? It's been two years," Leena says. "Okay, so all of us are here. What now?"

"Leena, you know what now," I say.

Leena sighs and gives a shrug. "Whatever. I mean, if he's up to it -" she points at Robbie "- then it's not such a bad idea, right?"

I give her a smile. Maybe Leena hasn't changed so much after all. And maybe Robbie hasn't changed at all either. And maybe we can finally stop dreading this day, maybe one day we can finally make it a day where all five of us can be together.

But I knew I was just daydreaming.

Because I haven't moved on from this day either.


	4. Chapter 4

**Then**

"Yep, keep doing it, keep doing it, yup! That's it! That's perfect! Don't stop until it erupts!"

"Thompson, we are lighting a campfire, not planting a bomb," Tambry says, giving me a glare. I let out a chuckle. I was going to miss Tambry's sarcasm, along with her blue highlights and violet nails. Surely those three will bring great things to Paris.

Wendy rolls her eyes and grabs the bag of marshmallows. "Okay everyone, grab a marshmallows, because tonight we dine with s'mores!"

Our s'mores ended up gooey and messy. But we didn't care. It was still delicious nonetheless.

Wendy's backyard was not an unusual place. We had been there countless of times. But tonight, with a campfire warming us, stars above us like they were winking, the place felt magical.

Tonight was the last night of the summer of 17. The next day, Wendy was packing her bags and moving all the way to Pennsylvania. What would it be like? I wonder, lying down on the grass with my four best friends. It was always the five of us. How would it be like with just four, then three, then two?

The thought irritates me, so I move on to a new thought. What was Pennsylvania like? Would I ever go there? What movies or books have been set in Pennsylvania? _Pretty Little Liars, Magic Tree House, Love, Stargirl..._

"I can see the big dipper!" Leena says, pointing at the sky.

"Well, don't get excited, 'cuz it's the only constellation you'll see tonight," Tambry says as-a-matter-of-factly. "So much light pollution in this world. Our stars are in the shadows."

"Way to depress the group, Tambry," Robbie says, making us all laugh.

Then, Wendy says out of the blue: "What's in your bucket list?"

All of us go silent for a while. Then I ask, "What's that, Wendy?"

"Well, when you think about it, we're only 17," Wendy says. "If we're lucky, we'll live up to be 70. Maybe even 80 if we're _really_ lucky. So if that's true, we have 60 something years left to do anything we want. What do we do with those 60 years?"

"We live," Leena says.

"And how do we do that, Leena?"

"Well, first of all, I want to finish college at Kirs and finally get my degree in HRM," Leena says. "Then I'll set up a restaurant, a wonderful restaurant that serves delicious food. And there's always going to be a table that has a reserved sign. And the only time the reserve sign's not there is when we're sitting in it."

This gets all of us smiling. "Well, I hope there's table for more than five, Leena, because what I want to do with my life is grow old with this girl right here," Robbie says, looking towards Wendy.

"Cheesefest," Tambry says, and we all chuckle.

"What about you, Thompson?" Wendy asks me.

"Hmm...well, I'd travel a lot," I say. "New York. Monte Carlo. Istanbul. And then I'd take pictures. Lots of pictures. I'd still have my old DSLR though, the one I have now, no matter how much money I make. Why, you ask? Because you guys use it as well. I don't even consider it mine anymore, just the caretaker. That camera belongs to all of us."

"Tambry?"

Tambry ponders for a while, then says, "I don't know. I don't think I have a bucket list right now. I don't even have a college to go to like you guys. Maybe I'll just wing it, you know? Take whatever chances I can get and somehow figure it out in the long run. Hey, like you said, I have 60 years. No need to figure it out now."

"What about you, Wendy?" I ask.

Wendy remains silent for a while, then says, "I have a million things I want to do with my life. I want my own art show, and show everyone my paintings. And I want my own art studio, so I can paint. And I want to travel, like you, Thompson, and I want to travel back here too, and visit Leena's restaurant, and use Thompson's camera, and marry Robbie and so many other things."

The five of us say nothing, only stare at the starry sky. We had our whole future ahead of us, our 60 years left to live.

I would know these people 'til I was 70.


	5. Chapter 5

**Now**

"No."

Tambry's first words to us after two years of not talking, not seeing each other, not even know where she was.

"But we didn't even tell you what we were -"

"You don't have to," Tambry says, leaning by her door frame. "I can piece together clues. I know what day is it today. I can see that all of us are here, after months of not seeing each other." Tambry gives Robbie a look. "Well, all of us except Wendy, of course. Are we picking her up next?"

"Tambry, that's enough," I say. "I know you're still mad about that day, believe me, we all are, but you don't have to be so rude."

"Rude, huh?" Tambry says in disbelief. "Let's see, you guys come here to my house after years of not talking, and, of all days, this day, and I'm the rude one here?"

"Tambry, please," Leena says. "We can't do it if it's not the five of us."

"There is no more five of us!" Tambry shouts. "Gosh, why don't you guys understand that? Things have changed! Stuff has happened! But you guys are still so pretentious that you still believe there's a five of us!"

"Tambry, please," I say, grabbing something from my bag. It was my camera. I handed it to her.

"What's this, your camera?" she says. "You know, I'm still mad you didn't let me take that camera to Paris. With all that talk about us owning it, I at least thought you'd consider it."

"Turn it on," I say. "Look at the pictures."

Tambry sighs and turns on the camera. She looks at the pictures. A picture of a hat on a coat rack. A picture of the sky. And then –

A picture of us. The five of us. The summer of 17. At the amusement park, with a huge ferris wheel behind us, smiling like we were the happiest people in the world.

"You still haven't deleted it," Tambry says.

"I deleted everything else," I say. "I kept it in my laptop, of course, but I needed space on my camera. But I didn't delete that one." I shrug. "How could I? It's the picture that reminds me of what used to be. Before..." I stop.

Tambry sighs. "Fine. I'll go." She points a finger at me. "But I hope you know this isn't going to be some tradition that we do every year," she says. "I'm just doing this now because your emotional blackmail somehow works."

"Good with me," I say, and we make our way to the car.

"Now, Robbie," Tambry says as she gets inside the car, "let's just hope your girlfriend isn't mad at me."


	6. Chapter 6

**Then**

Robbie told me once that a few minutes after we all fell asleep, Wendy woke him up. This is the story, told from Robbie's point of view:

 _I wake up to a harsh shaking. I look up and Wendy's there, smiling at me. "Help me," she whispers, leaning on me. "I can't go to sleep."_

 _"Are you sure you want to sleep here?" I ask, worried. "I mean, there's a reason your parents wanted boys and girls to sleep in different rooms. What if -"_

 _"It's not like we're going to have sex or something," Wendy says, shooting me a look. "I just want to talk with you for a while. Just a conversation. Then I'll go back and sleep with Leena and Tambry."_

 _"Okay," I say. "What do you want to talk about?"_

 _Wendy puts her arms around me. "I'm scared, Robbie."_

 _"Scared? Why? Is there an intruder in the house? Shall I chop him down with my karate?" I imitate a karate master, and Wendy laughs. I love it when she laughs._

 _"No, silly," Wendy says. "I'm scared for tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that." Wendy looks at me. "Things are changing too much. The last few days have gone by way too fast. And I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, Robbie. What if -"_

 _"Hey, it's going to be okay," I say, hugging her tightly. "You are an amazing person. They're going to love you there."_

 _Whatever romantic moment we had then was interrupted by a very loud snore coming from the one and only Thompson Burton. We both stare at him, then laugh loudly. We instantly cover our mouths, being careful not to wake him up._

 _It seems like we've been laughing so much the past few days. Maybe that's what happens when you love someone so much._

 _"I'm gonna miss Thompson, just so you know," Wendy says. "Are you jealous?"_

 _"No, because I'm gonna annoy you so much you're not even going to have time to miss me," I say, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thompson's my best friend, you know. We've known each other since we were 10, and I really do appreciate him. Of course, tell him that and I'll deny it."_

 _Wendy just laughs and gives me a kiss, a sweet one, a deep one, and it's only then that I realize that I'll miss her lips on my lips so much._

 _"What's the future going to be like, Robbie?"_

 _And at that moment, I could see the future. I see me, staring out the window frame, looking at the same sky as the four of them are. I see a girl, messy hair and lit-up eyes, sitting by a tree, sketchbook in hand, drawing the world on paper the way she sees it. I see five friends, coming together once again, laughing like they just heard the world's funniest joke. I see a boy, my friend, looking through the lenses._

 _"Don't worry," I tell her. "It's going to be amazing."_


	7. Chapter 7

**Now**

If trying to convince the three to join in was awkward, imagine how much more awkward the car ride was.

Wendy was a long way from Tambry's. There, the four of us were – me driving, Robbie sitting beside me, Leena and Tambry at the back. Years ago, this would've been a noisy car ride, with music blaring out of the speakers and the five of us singing our lungs out.

Now, it's just silence.

You could hear a pin drop.

"So, guys..." I say, trying to start up a conversation. "The weather...it's been good these past few days, haven't it?"

"Uh, yeah," Leena says. "Except for last Tuesday. That day was raining as heck. And the wind was so strong. My laundry was literally flying all over the place."

Oh no. The conversation had sunk in too deep we were talking about Leena's laundry.

"Uh... hey Robbie, did you happen to bring your iPod along?" I say. "My stereo has finally an aux speaker. Mind if we plug it in?"

"Yeah, sure," Robbie says, grabbing his iPod and plugging it into the stereo. "I haven't updated it in so long, though. I'll just put in on shuffle."

 _Uptown Funk_ plays through the speakers, but for some reason, none of us sing along. Not even me, and I love this song. "Bruno Mars is amazing in this song, isn't he?" I say, and I get "mmhmm" and "yeah yeah" as replies.

The song finally ends...

And _Here's to Never Growing Up_ plays.

"Oh my gosh, Robbie, you still have this song?" Tambry says ecstatically.

"Of course I do," Robbie says. "Man, this song's a classic!"

"We used to sing this all the time!" Leena says, giggling.

And suddenly, when the chorus came, as if on cue, we all started singing.

" _Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs! With the boom box playing as we're falling in love! Gotta follow wherever but it's getting us drunk! Singing here's to never growing up!_ " We spent the rest of the song singing as loud as we could. Then, when it was over, we played it again. And again. And just then, it felt like before.

I only wish Wendy was here to sing with us.


	8. Chapter 8

**Then**

This is what happens on the day we despise, on the day no one wants to remember.

Wendy Corduroy dies.

It was the morning after. Wendy was packing her things. She was heading to Pennsylvania. She was going to Drake. She was going to major in art, have her own gallery, travel around and travel back.

But she never did any of those things.

"Need some help packing, Wendy?" Robbie asked.

"No, it's okay, just one more box and I'm done!" Wendy grabbed the last box on the ground and lifted it to the back of the moving van. All of us stood beside her, and facing us was the reality of everything changing – a moving man filled with boxes.

"Well, I guess it is really happening, huh?" Leena said, giving Wendy a hug. "You're really leaving."

"Well, technically, I'm not leaving 'til 6," Wendy said, swinging her wrist watch. "Which means we have...5 hours to do whatever the hell we want to do."

So we did what any goodbye-struck bunch of teenagers would do. We visited our high school one last time.

"He says we can't go in unless we have a faculty ID," Robbie said. "Any of you got a faculty ID?"

We all shook our heads.

"Well, I guess that leaves our great high school farewell to a dead end," Wendy said, letting out a sigh. "Anyone else got a better idea?"

"You know," Tambry said, nudging Wendy, "Rhode High isn't the only school we've been to."

We all knew what that meant then.

"Rhode Elementary!" Wendy shouted, raising her arms to the sky. "How long has it been since we've been here?"

"Sixth grade?" I replied.

"Last week," Leena said. "Well, for me, anyway. My little brother goes here, remember?"

Rhode Elementary was set near a hilltop just a couple of meters away from Rhode High. I hadn't been there since...forever, and the whole thing brought back memories.

"Oh my gosh, guys, the playground's still here!"

And so she was right. The playground still was there, with its swings, slides, and seesaws. We all looked at each other, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing.

"To the playground!" I shouted, and everyone ran.

And we played on the playground, like little kids. It must've looked strange to anyone watching us. (Luckingly, the school year was yet to start, so no embarrassment whatsoever.) We didn't care how strange we looked, though. We were having the time of our lives.

"Remember how we used to keep fighting over this swing?" Adelaide said. "All of us wanted it because it was the only swing back then."

"And how we would use the seesaw, but nothing would actually happen because one side was always too heavy?" Tambry said.

"Hey, hold on, remember how we used to play hide and seek all the time?" Wendy said. "And the teachers would always get mad at us, because we'd drift off far away from the place, like the other slope of the hilltop or -"

"I had to stay in the bad behaviour bucket because of that!" Robbie shouted. "Gosh, that stupid bucket. I still hate it with a burning rage."

"Hide and seek, eh?" Tambry said slyly, and we all knew what each other was thinking.

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it – ARRGHH!" I shouted, angry. "Why am I always it?"

Everyone giggled and I accepted defeat, and turned around and covered my eyes. "Count to fifty, right? One, two, three..." after I finished counting, I shouted, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Everyone else was easy to find. Tambry had hidden behind a tree, Leena had hidden under the slide, and Robbie in the bushes.

Wendy, however, was gone.

Here's the thing: back then, Wendy would always get in trouble because she'd drift off way far away from the playground. She hated being it. She always wanted to be the last one found.

You can already tell what happens next.

No replies to our calls. Searching for her 'til six. Her parents sending in a search team. Ambulance sirens. Words like _found her in the other side of the hill_ and _slid and hit her head_ and _will she be alright doctor._

Wendy died in such a stupid way.

And until know, I still wonder if it was our fault.


	9. Chapter 9

**Now**

Tambry certainly thinks it was.

"No, Robbie, I changed my mind," she says as we reach the cemetery. "She doesn't want me there."

"And how do you know she doesn't -"

"Because I was the one who suggested the whole damn thing, remember?!" she shouts. "I was the one who suggested we go to Rhode Elementary. If we hadn't gone there, she wouldn't -" Tambry's voice cracks. She hesitates for a while. "She wouldn't be here right now."

Tambry stays silent, and Robbie stares at me. "Look, Tambry," I say, trying to find the right words, "if you don't want to do this, that's fine. Just coming here is enough."

"No, I'm sorry, I'm just being weak right now," Tambry says, wiping her tears. "I can do it. I'm strong enough."

Leena gives her a hug and says, "It was never your fault, Tambry."

All of us walk into the cemetery. I've only been here once my entire life, and that was when Wendy was buried. I haven't visited her since then, and I don't know if any of my friends have too.

But here we are now, making our way to her gravestone.

"Wendy Corduroyn," it says. There's a date of when she was born, date when she died, and a dash in between. _The dash is all that matters,_ my mom had told me when she died. _What she did in that dash is what matters. And she did incredible things._

We all look at the gravestone, and none of us say anything for a while. Then, Robbie breaks the silence and whispers, "I miss you, Wendy."

"I miss you too, Wendy," Tambry says.

"We all miss you," Leena says.

I look over at my friends, and I realize how much I've missed them, and how much I've missed Wendy, and how much I want everything to be the same again, but how it will never be, because we lost.

 _The dash is all that matters._

 _What she did in that dash were incredible things._

What she did was become our friend.

What she did loved us.

I look over at Robbie. Robbie Fassi, who I've known since I was ten. Robbie, who was Wendy's boyfriend. Robbie, who loved Wendy so much he wanted to marry her. Robbie was a cool and steady guy, but he'd show his love right to someone he thought was special. Wendy was obviously special to him, so special he'd talk to her when she couldn't sleep and listen to her favourite songs and artists because she loved them so much. Robbie, who now has lost not just a friend, but also a lover.

And Leena. Sweet, sweet, sweet Leena. Leena, who was going to be a restaurant owner. Leena, who would have missed Wendy so much if she had gone to Pennsylvania. Leena was always a kind girl, and Wendy loved that about her. Leena wanted to create a restaurant, and she loved Wendy so much she planned to reserve a table just so she could sit with us. Wendy wanted so much to visit the restaurant, and sit at the reserved table, but now that will never happen, she is gone.

And Tambry. Tambry, who was never sure of what to do in her life. Tambry, who spent fifteen bucks on popcorn and took a gap year and went with her dad to Paris. Tambry, who took life by its surprises, and knew there was no need to figure everything out right away. Tambry, who lives in regret and guilt because of what she thinks is her fault – and it's not, it's really not, and I'm sure Wendy is thinking the same thing.

And Wendy. Finally, Wendy. Wendy was my friend, Wendy was all our friend. She wanted so much to go to Drake, but she hated the fact that she was leaving the four of us behind. She was scared because everything was changing so fast and she wanted things to slow down a bit. Wendy wanted so much to relive the past one last time that she went back to her old hiding place, but never went out alive.

Wendy will never be an artist. She will never be able to use my camera again, or sit at our reserved table, or marry Robbie.

And it is too painful.

But Wendy would've wanted us to live our lives. Wendy would've wanted us to live our bucket list – that's why she asked us for it, because she knew we could do it. Wendy would've wanted us to make our 60 years worthwhile.

And like Leena said that night, _we live._

"So," Tambry asks, "what happens now?"

And at that moment, I could see the future. I see me, working for National Geographic, taking pictures with the same camera I have used since I was 15. I see Leena, cutting a big ribbon to her restaurant, and Robbie, owning his own business, and Tambry, travelling the world. And I see five friends, coming together once again after a busy year, at a cemetery.

"Don't worry," I tell her. "It's going to be amazing."


End file.
